Elliott & Harper turn ONE!

Guys, our kids are ONE. This past year has FLOWN by but it has been the GREATEST year of my life. We celebrated on Saturday with close friends and family and their birthday was a huge success. We did a Sesame Street theme since the kids absolutely adore the 10 minutes a day they get watching it. It’s crazy how you really feel the love of your friends and family when you have get togethers like this. I’m STILL feeling overwhelmed from the love we received at their baby shower! The greatest thing about our friends is the thought they put into their gifts. We asked for a few learning toys but mostly books and man did our friends deliver. A friend from work, Christie, got them the ugly duckling book and an owl book – she also came early and helped us set up, without her & our friend Brielle we would have been lost so if you are reading this ladies, THANK YOU!!!! One of our friends, Sondra, got us a HUGE book with classic stories as well as the Dr. Suess Birthday book – she signed it, which makes it even more special. We read them their Birthday Book last night and I’m so glad we have been reading to them since they were itty bitty because they actually sit down and pay attention. Harper may or may not try ripping the book out of our hands to “read” it herself, but she is learning J TWO of our NICU primaries came, Jami & Crystal. Jami got them a book about a farting dog…she wrote how appropriate the book was because our kids were big farters in the NICU and well into their first 4 months of life, it seemed that they would fart all day long sometimes. Crystal was our night primary and she came to their party even though she was in between night shifts – that my friends is true love. What really gets me is that I swear my kids remember them. They have seen both nurses a handful of times since being discharged and they always go right to them and snuggle up, I think they know that these ladies were a huge party of their hard journey when they first started life. My mom, brother & sister went in on a BADASS wagon, this thing is nicer than my car. It has cup holders, a canopy, seat belts, everything you need to have a fun filled afternoon cruising in a wagon. I have a feeling that this bad boy is going to be driven into the ground!! I can’t wait to test it out!! Auntie Knoble (one of mine and Devan’s dearest friends, she is one of those friends that is family) got them the sickest Space Ship tent along with space shirts & a space book. The kids are already obsessed with the tent – it was such a great gift idea! Knobel ALWAYS gets the kids the coolest gifts! For our baby shower she flat out spoiled these kids with gifts that they STILL use to this day, one being a huge party of bedtime – it is one of those sheep things that make ocean sounds –they go to sleep with it EVERY night. You can tell our kids really love her too, I’m so grateful our kids have people like Knobel in their life – and I’m grateful for her friendship she is a wonderful person and so good to our family. Her mom also spoiled them with AMAZING personalized books. The books are about a child who is getting their name and in the end it winds up being “HARPER” or “ELLIOTT”; another gift that will be treasure forever. Grandma and Grandpa got the kids My Pal Scout & My Pal Violet – if you don’t have one of these for your little one, GET ONE! They’re amazing and aren’t too expensive. They are programmable so the dog knows your kids name, favorite food, color etc & sings songs and has learning games. Rosemary & Mikey helped us so much with planning and setting up and also let us use their house for the party. They are such wonderful grandparents, our kids are lucky to have them. I think we ended up with about 15 new books and just the right amount of toys to pack up the old “baby” toys and bring in the new “toddler” toys. Everything they got they’re love and it makes me heart warm and fuzzy because we are so loved by so many great people. We decided instead of getting the babies a gift we’d create memories and go to the Phoenix Zoo. We all had a blast! It was so cool to see the babies notice the animals, they spent a good half of the day pointing at birds. At one point a goose stole a cracker right out of Elliott’s hand, they were NOT amused by that and immediately started screaming haha! Before we left we got our diaper back all packed up and didn’t realize until we go there that their bottles were sitting on the drying rack at home. We improvised and put some formula in their sippies and they were perfectly fine, I’m super excited because I’ve been trying to figure out how we are going to get rid of the bottle and it seems it really isn’t that big of a deal! We decided early on we weren’t going to give them cow’s milk in place of formula, instead we have been using no sugar added coconut milk. On Halloween we gave them both a small amount of cow’s milk and they puked everywhere – I have read about this happening with kids transitioning and also read that cow’s milk is actually horrible for you so we nixed that right away. They do really well on the coconut milk and for the next 4 weeks or so we will give them 2oz of formula mixed with coconut milk and then slowly get rid of the formula – our wallets are going to be really happy about that one! We’ve noticed that since we’ve started feeding them 3 solid meals a day as well as snacks they’re not really drinking bottles anyway. They will usually take about 5 oz in the morning and then 2-3 oz here and there throughout the day, they have been formula wasting machines! Don’t they know that stuff is expensive?! Being able to feed them what we are having for dinner is the greatest thing in the world, it makes life so much easier. I’m over washing bottles!!!

UPDATE: Since it took me 3 days to post this — the kids are officially bottle AND formula free, it was really easy, they don’t seem to even care! Now what to do with all the formula I stocked up on??

We have a great weekly routine going but I’ve been feeling sad lately because I feel like I’m not getting enough time with them and I hate it. Here is what a week in the Davis Family looks like:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday: 4:30am wake up, I get the kids fed, changed and ready for the day while Devan gets ready for work. They leave at 5:15am to head to Grandma’s house. They spend from 5:30am-4:45/5:00pm with Grandma while Devan and I are both at work. I am there to pick them up and we head home. We get home around 5:30 and spend time together for about an hour before its dinner time. We eat for about 30 minutes and then have baths. We get them cozied up in their jammies, read them a book, give them a quick snuggle and put them to bed around 7:00pm. (Time spent with them: 2 hours 45 minutes)

Tuesday/Thursday: Devan has school on Tuesday’s so I get up and go to work, sometimes if they wake up before I leave at 6:00am then I get a quick snuggle with them, but most of the time they’re asleep when I leave. I get off work at 4:00pm and am usually home by 4:30. We hang out until about 6 and have dinner, bath, jammies & bed between 6:30-7pm. (Time spent with them: 2-2 hours and 30 minutes)

Then of course we have our weekends together, between sleeping and nap time I get to see them for about 11 hours a day, totaling 22 hours for the entire weekend. This gives me a grand total of: 35 hours and 15 minutes. In one week, I’m spending less than 40 hours with my children. I’m not okay with it and am having a really hard time with it. They’re spending more time with their grandmother than they are their own mom and I hate it. Rosemary is great, and I’m glad that they’re with her, but I miss my kids and it shouldn’t be this way. Working mommas, what the hell do we do!? Any suggestions? I feel like I’m missing everything. I’ve thought about putting bedtime out to about 8pm but they’re so tired by 6:30-7pm that they’re cranky and our time together isn’t even fun. Maybe we need to get into a new routine and adjust nap times so they can stick it out and stay up a little later…all I know is I’ll do anything to get a few more hours in a week with them. I’m looking forward to the holidays, I will have some time off and I plan to spend every moment I can with them.

Both kids are doing great, they’re so smart and growing up so quick. We have their 1 year well visit tomorrow so I’ll update on their weight then, my guess is little man is well over 20lbs and Harper is near 20lbs. Elliott is wearing 12-18months and Harper is in 9-12 months. Elliott is walking like a champ and has even started to run – we are now trying to get him used to wearing shoes while he walks, it is pretty hysterical seeing him try and prance around with shoes on. Harper isn’t walking yet but she pulls herself up and moves along the furniture. I think she will start walking within the next 6 weeks or so. She has a few teeth popping in on the top; Elliott is still rocking the two bottom teeth. We have been trying to get them to say Mama but they don’t seem to care. Of course ask them to do the itsy bitsy spider, show how old they are, clap, dance or repeat other random words they will do it, but say Mama – now way. I can’t believe that a year of their life is already over, it goes by in the blink of an eye. Being a parent is the greatest gift in the world and I can’t wait for our next year together!

Here is a little blast from the past as well as a few birthday pictures — we have several more that I’ll post soon!